The Kiss that Matters
by happilyinsane13
Summary: One Shot. The Seigaku regulars are forced to participate in a Kissing Booth at a festival with the help of Sengoku and Hyotei's Jiro, Atobe, and Choutaro. A little girl with braids gets a kiss from the wrong boy. AtobeSakuno AtoSaku


**AN: I wrote this so long ago, and found it on my old hard drive. It was unfinished, but I knew it deserved to be completed. I'm trying to get back in the groove of Prince of Tennis. It's been while I'm afraid.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis. If I did, Ryoma wouldn't be the center of the show. It'd be Akaya, or Yuuta, Atobe, Shishido, Choutaro… (starts mumbling other possible candidates) **

**Dedicated to Hanabi and Sakura as a thank you, apology, and something they can giggle and laugh over. They have been a great help and inspiration.**

A thick silence coated Ryuzaki Sumire's office as the Seigaku regulars' stared incredulously at their coach. Fuji's usual smile did not waver a fraction, but his eyes had opened in to astonished cobalt slits. Tezuka's stoic face was strained and the vein at the base of his temple was about ready to pop. Dear kami, let it not be so. He would never be able to live it down if this cruel and hideous joke was true.

"What?" Momo exclaimed, backing away from the wooden desk his coach sat at. She was wearing that look that said she was utterly serious, and he in no way liked it at all. He liked girls and all, but this was…

"Crap." Ryoma muttered, tugging on the bill of his baseball cap. His cat eyes narrowed and he frowned in disgust. There was no way in hell they would drag him all the way to the Cultural festival to do a freaking…

"Kissing Booth?" Momo was once again asking, trying to confirm what he was hoping to be a mistake. This is something Sengoku Kiyosumi would be interested in doing. Not him!

"Fsssh. That's what she said, baka," Kaidoh hissed, turning to his side and craning over Inui's head to glare at Momo. "Or were you not listening?"

"Mamushi, you're asking for it!"

Before the two could start brawling in the middle of the office however, Kikumaru had jumped between them and used his arms to hoist himself atop Inui's shoulders. His feet dangling and his arms around Inui's neck he cocked his head to one side in curiosity. Inui didn't seem to notice the extra weight on top of him because he was to busy collecting data.

"Nya, why do we have to?" Kikumaru whined, his eyes wide and pleading. "Fan girls are dangerous, you know!"

Oishi decided to put his two cents in, a worried look on his face. He also knew the danger of fan girls, all of the regulars' did, and it was not pretty. Fan girls would go to such drastic measures. Such unspeakable lengths… Oishi shivered.

"Ryuzaki-sensei, Eiji is right. We could get hurt! The people could get hurt!"

Very hurt. By the famed stampede of insane fans on the hunt.

Sumire sighed and clasped her hands on the desk. She looked up at her team apologetically.

"It's a risk we will have to take." She told them, but then cursed as the team noticed something.

"We?" Kawamura asked, his faced puzzled. "Who's we?"

"Yes, Sumire-chan, who is we?" Fuji echoed, his smile pleasant and his eyes eerie and dangerous.

"W-well," Sumire stuttered, trying to think what was behind that razor sharp smile. That very sadistic smile.

"Hyotei and Yamabuki thought it would benefit them too, so we…"

"Joined forces to make a bigger profit." Ryoma finished, his eyes narrowed and accusing.

Sumire laughed hesitantly. Damn the kid was good. There was the sound of footsteps and everyone turned around to see Tezuka open the door to the office. He turned around to their inquisitive heads, and said one of the things you'd never expect Tezuka Kunimitsu to say. At least not in any normal situation.

Tezuka looked at them once through his glasses.

"Hell. No."

And slammed the door behind him.

Tezuka had gotten about 50 feet away from the room where that devious meeting was being held when he ran into none other than Sakuno Ryuzaki. Seeing him she bowed, but when she raised her head, her cinnamon eyes were wide and inquisitive.

"Nii-san, what's wrong?"

Not known to the population of Seigaku was that Tezuka had known the Ryuzaki family since he was in dirty diapers. This also meant, he had known Sakuno since she was a baby, taking care of her when her grandma was out of the house. This wasn't common knowledge not because they didn't want anyone to know, but simply because nobody asked them. So why should they say anything?

Tezuka heaved a huge sigh. He motioned for Sakuno to come closer to him and, in a voice full of bitterness, relayed to her the recent events. Unsurprisingly, she had a good laugh about it.

"Nii-san, its no different than usual," she said brightly. "All the girls want to kiss you."

"I've taken great pride that none of them have succeeded," he growled. "This ruins my track record."

"Than don't let it count," Sakuno advised. "A kiss is not a true, meaningful kiss unless you think of it that way. In short, if it doesn't matter to you, than it doesn't matter at all!"

The mighty captain pondered her words for a few seconds, before allowing himself to break out into a small grin.

"I guess your right."

Sakuno beamed at him. Giving a little wave, she made her way to class.

"I'll come and support you Nii-san! Make lots of money!"

Tezuka shook his head in exasperation and groaned. Although her advice was helpful, he still wasn't looking forward to the festival. He just had a bad feeling about it… Like he was going to murder someone…

When the day of the Cultural Festival arrived, the sun was shining, the cherry blossoms blooming, and the chorus of hard work echoed throughout the festival grounds. All of this was a stark contrast to the Seigaku regular's moods.

"I still don't understand why we have to do this!" Momo whined, setting up the small sign that proclaimed in bright red letters,

"KISSING BOOTH. COME GIVE A SMOOCH TO YOUR FAVORITE SEIGKAU TENNIS REGULARS. WITH GUEST APPEARANCES FROM SENGOKU OF YAMABUKI AND CHOUTARO, JIRO, AND ATOBE FROM HYOTEI."

"Why are only Sengoku, Choutaro, Jiro, and Atobe coming?" Kawamaru wondered, straightening the other sign that read,

"500 YEN PER KISS."

Inui pushed his glasses up the brim of his nose, looking over his notes carefully.

"According to my data, Sengoku is the only one from Yamabuki that was 100% willing. The others from Hyotei are different matters. There is a 94.8% chance Atobe wanted to come to show off himself, a 86% chance Choutaro was too nice to say no, and a 100% chance Jiro was asleep when the decision was made for him."

"They actually got a choice?" Kaidoh hissed angrily.

"What about Kabaji? He's always with Atobe." Oishi asked.

"Mysteriously sick today," said a voice.

The regulars jumped and turned to see the Hyotei regulars who had volunteered, and Sengoku. Choutaro was the one who had spoken, and he grinned.

"Interesting time to be sick, right?"

Atobe flipped a lock of his silver hair back, looking a little too pompous for Ryoma's taste as he watched him, but all the more amusing.

"Ore-sama knows that nothing would stop Kabaji from being by Ore-sama's side, except sickness."

Jiro snored while Choutaro and Sengoku sniggered.

"When do we get started?" Sengoku asked eagerly.

"5 minutes," Fuji said, a little too nicely. "You get the honor of first shift."

Sengoku gave a whoop and hurried behind the wooden stall to 'primp himself for the ladies'.

"Nyah, why do I feel like we're pimping ourselves out?" Kikumaru asked, cocking his head to one side curiously.

The young men quickly started talking energetically on the subject, while Ryoma heaved a rather large sigh, tugging the bill of his cap over his eyes.

"Mada mada dane."

"Mou! Sakuno-chan, hurry up! We have to get in line for Ryoma-sama's kiss!" Tomoko exclaimed.

She was dragging a very exasperated Sakuno across the festival grounds to the kissing booth in excitement.

"Tomoko-chan, aren't you a bit too excited?" Sakuno asked.

"Aren't you too calm?" Tomoko yelled, much to Sakuno's chagrin. "You get a chance to claim Ryoma-sama's precious lips! This is an opportunity of a lifetime!"

Sakuno blushed to the roots of her dark brown hair. She couldn't lie to herself, she had been thinking about it. The feel of his warm lips on her own… it would be magical. Yet when Sakuno thought of the long line of girls probably daydreaming of the same thing her hope would deflate. Was it really so special if she wasn't even the first (and only) one to say she had experienced it?

As they approached the booth, Sakuno gaped at the line. She knew it would be long, but this was ridiculous! There was a long stretch of girls (and, honestly, a few boys) that must have totaled to a bit more than forty people. Tomoko and Sakuno dashed to the end of the line to wait there turn.

"It's the beginning of Ryoma's shift, but I don't know if we'll make it!" Tomoko whined.

Sakuno just shook her head, and gazed up at the cherry blossom tree that was shading the line and the booth. The pale, pink petals floated down with the gentle zephyr that wafted through the trees. Some nestled themselves in Sakuno's dark brown hair. Reaching out a hand, she caught a couple of the soft petals. She smiled, studying the petals. They were such a pale pink they were almost white. Beautiful and pure, and brief in their lifespan.

Yet Sakuno hoped that every spring should be like this one, and hopefully, after gaining a kiss from Ryoma, she'd have someone to enjoy it with.

"Hey buchou! Isn't that Ryuzaki-chan?" Kawamaru asked, pointing the petite girl with the braids out of the crowd of girls.

Tezuka only could spare a glance and a quick nod as he was frantically brushing his teeth. His shift had been the one prior to Ryoma's and he swore one of the "women" had been a man in disguise. With lots of make-up and really bad breath to boot. So Tezuka, astute man that he normally was, would not notice and not have the opportunity to stop the atrocity that would happen next. He was too busy brushing and flossing his teeth until his gums bled.

Ryoma desperately wanted this to end. His lips were getting smashed, bruised, and bit by rabid girls and boys. This needed to end so he could go to the back, join Tezuka in his fervid mouth cleansing and then chug about twelve cans of Ponta to forget the taste of it all.

"Oi! Ore-sama must have his turn so as to woo the ladies who obviously all desire Ore-sama's lips!"

Although normally annoyed, Ryoma felt the tug on his shoulders as salvation as he was thrust backwards, with Atobe's face replacing his own in the stall. It was only when it was too late that he noticed at that exact moment that Sakuno was pushed by Tomoko up to the stall… and came crashing into Atobe. Her lips firmly pressed against his.

Time stopped for Sakuno, simply because her first kiss had not been claimed by the Prince of Tennis, but by one of his greatest rivals. The older, skilled, and egocentric Atobe. Her eyes widened in shock, but she couldn't move her lips away. His lips were surprisingly soft and… dare she think it? Inexperienced. His lips moved slightly, timidly, as if he was afraid to take any chances.

To say Atobe did not know whom he was kissing would be thinking too little of him. Although he was mostly oblivious to anything that was not related to tennis, he knew this girl by sight. She was the Seigaku coach's granddaughter, a girl who came to all of their games. Small, cute, and with eyes that at this moment he found captivating. Not because they were exceptionally brilliant or defiant, but because they were unsure and scared. Not because she was intimidated by him, but because she was innocent.

Atobe wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he had never kissed a girl before. He had volunteered for this kissing booth confidently, but inside he was masking an insecurity that he refused to reveal. His ego wouldn't let him.

Now that he was experiencing his first kiss however, he didn't mind who it was going to her. Better her than some random stranger. Better to her than… anybody really.

As they both came to this mutual epiphany they began to kiss more meaningfully, more vigorously. Girls in the back of the line were starting to complain, as Tomoko and the regulars just gaped in unabashed shock. Ryoma was gripping his hat so hard his hands were turning purple, and Tezuka's toothbrush was hanging out of his mouth.

Soon enough though Tezuka, the protective brother he secretly was, snapped out of his daze and grabbed Atobe by the hips and pulled him back with a powerful and painful yank. Atobe yelped while Sakuno squeaked. Sakuno blushed a bright red at the realization of what she had done, but before she could run away and hide in a hole forever, Kikumaru, Fuji, and Tomoko had surrounded her. Kikumaru and Tomoko pounced on her, while Fuji stood beside her, his smile not reaching his cobalt slits for eyes.

"Nyah! Ryuzaki-chan! You've been victimized! Victimized by the beast! Do you need toothpaste? Mouthwash? Should we take you to a hospital?"

"Sakuno-chan! Oh my goodness! He was all over you! Ryoma-sama's face!"

"Neh, Sakuno-chan," Fuji said, all too calmly. "Honestly it looked like you enjoyed it."

Sakuno's face got hotter, not because it was embarrassing (even though it was) but because it was the truth.

The four of them looked up when they heard the sound of body parts being pounded into the ground. Tezuka, Momo, and Kaidoh were currently attempting to murder Atobe. Oishi and Kawamaru were trying to hold the three back, while Sengoku and Choutaro were trying to save Atobe. Jiro's sleeping form had been thrust into the stall to be used and abused until the matter that had just occurred was sorted out.

"Ore-sama didn't mean to! Besides it's a kissing booth!"

"That wasn't just kissing!" Momo yelled. "You were making out with out kohai!"

"You robbed her innocent lips! Nyah!" Kikumaru joined in, jumping into the fray.

As the regulars continued to berate the helpless Hyotei captain, Tezuka marched over to Sakuno, grabbed her hand and marched off.

"We need to talk," he grunted.

Atobe saw this out of the corner of his eye, and felt something heavy in the pit of his stomach grow. He couldn't quite place what it was.

When they had gone far enough away from the stall, Tezuka stopped walking but kept a hold on Sakuno's hands. The crowd passed them from every direction, the noise the perfect disguise for what he was about to ask her.

"Did it mean anything?" he asked her, turning a soft, concerned gaze on her that he rarely showed. "Does that kiss count?"

Sakuno put her fingers to her lips and thought about the sensation she had felt. The uplifting feeling she had felt, indescribable as if she had found someone who was as vulnerable as she was, even if outwardly he did not seem like it. She'd like to find out if she could keep that beautiful, brief feeling with him.

Looking up at the swirling cherry blossoms she said,

"Yes. I think it does."


End file.
